MBA from India or Abroad?

With a number of MBA institutes mushrooming in and outside India, there is no dearth of management graduates in the country, yet recruiters are always on the lookout for the right talent. A large number of students are seeking MBA degrees from good colleges and universities both in India and abroad. The choice depends on a number of factors. However, a good college minus your efforts to make it big in the end will not be suffice. So, assess the pros and cons before making your final decision.

After gaining work experience of around two years, Neha Arya wanted to groom her managerial skills for which she decided to do MBA. She wanted to be taught in a more practical way with a case study approach. “The options those fit my expectations were available only abroad. In India, we are more traditional and the course content we have has been the same since centuries. Barring a few institutes, the lecture method here is focused on one way communication wherein students are forced to think in a particular way,” she says. Neha pursued MBA in International Business from Birmingham City University, UK, and is now working in India. Besides, a foreign MBA degree provides students with an opportunity to have cross cultural experiences. One learns how to handle cultural barriers in a multinational setting. Mansie Dewan, an MBA consulting expert, says that she knows many MBA graduates from India who want to do another MBA from abroad to learn from a diverse peer group.

Tough prerequisites for MBA admission abroad

Such a study course, however, is not as easy one thinks to be. Even if you have been a topper in your earlier academic institutions, MBA from foreign shores does not come for less than Rs.7-8 lakhs, excluding living expenses. You might think of availing a loan but then you’ll have to arrange for collateral as well as guarantee. Then comes the eligibility. One needs to have work experience of at least 2-3 years to be eligible for an MBA abroad. Along with that, a good GRE or GMAT score and a fine academic record are imperative.

Placements for MBA abroad

Placement opportunities for foreign MBA students abroad are very less. There are not much placement facilities and summer internships for international students.

Hardwork is important

“I have usually seen sons of well-doing businessmen going abroad to do MBA so that they can return to India with a high-end degree. After all, they have to join their father’s business,” says Samuel John who did his MBA from SCMS Cochin. He shares a few more experiences when his friends could not find admission in good management colleges in India. They went abroad to do MBA so as to be in the category of ‘good MBA’ graduates. “Why not do a bit more hardwork and find place in a good MBA institution here in India itself? If it would have been so bad here, then why would MNCs come to this country to find their people and that too at middle and upper levels?” Samuel asks.

Neha Arya, MBA in International Business, Birmingham City University, UK

“Foreign institutes have stringent rules and regulations which are unheard of in India. They are very strict when it comes to plagiarism issues. There is no human intervention but software to catch plagiarism and the guilty students are immediately failed from the examination and made to take the exam again. Such stringent rules and regulations are unheard of in India.”

“Global MBA is about leadership and decision making and these skills are imparted as part of curriculum. In addition to a good GMAT score, the screening process to crack an MBA itself is very rigorous in comparison to Indian universities.”

Samuel John, MBA in Marketing and Finance, SCMS Cochin

“It’s about working hard and let the institute be your driving force. Irrespective of from where you do MBA, you’ll have to grill yourself for a job. Thinking that foreign MBA would make things easier is a myth.”